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Cardinal: Divine Judgment will fall on priests who do not oppose abortion, homosexual lifestyle July 26, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, Interior Life, Latin Mass, North Deanery, scandals, Society.
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Via Pewsitter, LifeSiteNews quotes Robert Cardinal Sarah in a speech to seminarians about to be ordained:

Cardinal Robert Sarah is warning that priests who fail in their duty to oppose the breakdown of morality in modern society, particularly pro-abortion and anti-family policies, will receive the condemnation of God.

In a sermon delivered on June 25 to seminarians of the Community of St. Martin, whom he was about to ordain to the priesthood and diaconate, Sarah admonished his listeners, “if we have fear of proclaiming the truth of the Gospel, if we are ashamed of denouncing the grave deviations in the area of morality, if we accommodate ourselves to this world of moral laxity and religious and ethical relativism, if we are afraid to energetically denounce the abominable laws regarding the new global ethos, regarding marriage, the family in all of its forms, abortion, laws in total opposition to the laws of nature and of God, and that the western nations and cultures are promoting and imposing thanks to the mass media and their economic power, then the prophetic words of Ezechiel will fall on us as a grave divine reproach.”

Sarah quoted the prophesy of Ezechiel found in chapter 34:2-4: “‘Son of man, prophesy against the pastors of Israel to pastor themselves.  Should not the pastors feed the flock? You have been fed with milk, you have dressed yourselves with wool.  You have not strengthened the weak lambs, cared for those who were sick, healed those who were injured.  You have not restored those who have strayed, searched for those who were lost.  But you have governed them with violence and hardness.’ (Ez. 34: 2-4)”

“These reproaches are serious, but more important is the offense that we have committed against God when, having received the responsibility of caring for the spiritual good of all, we mistreat souls by depriving them of the true teaching of the doctrine of regarding God, regarding man, and the fundamental values of human existence,” the cardinal added. Click here to read the entire sermon.

Cardinal Sarah, who was appointed to the presidency of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum in 2010, is overseeing a radical restructuring of the Catholic Church’s international development aid programs. These have been criticized for a secular mentality that ignores the spiritual needs of recipients, often promoting values that are opposed to Catholicism, including the legalization of abortion and homosexual unions.

More Providence in action! I read that portion of Ezechiel quoted above, and considered posting on it, but decided not to.  It appears the Lord wanted that particular portion of Sacred Scripture to be  mentioned on this blog, after all! 

I fully agree with the Cardinal’s statements – priests and bishops have a high duty, an imperative, to proclaim all the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church, even that Truth which may not be unpopular.  Let me correct myself: ESPECIALLY that Truth that may not be popular.  We live in a time when the Christian ethos that once suffused society is virtually extinct in many quarters.  Now, more than in any time in many centuries, we need brave shepherds who will boldly and unequivocally proclaim what the Church believes on many of these topics where mass apostasy reigns.  God brought down horrific judgment on Israel for their mass apostasy prior to the Babylonian exile and Israel being overrun by the Neo-Babylonian Empire – I pray that the Divine chasitsement that may be building, as related by Our Lady at Fatima and Akita, may be avoided by mass conversion and return to the precepts of the Faith.

Intercessors of the Lamb, Euteneuer, Corapi, now Voris? July 26, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, blogfoolery, disaster, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, sickness.
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Many of my readers have likely seen Fr. Z’s request for prayers regarding the devil being abroad and roaring like a lion.  We have seen many fall in the last few months, and I can tell you that there are big guns directed at Michael Voris right now.  Shea unloaded on Voris for a video he produced over a year ago on the hymn Amazing Grace, and how it is protestant in nature and as such isn’t the most fitting hymn for the Mass. There have been numerous other attacks, and there is an ongoing issue with the Archdiocese of Detroit over whether RealCatholicTV and Voris meet “diocesan media protocols,” which is a way to say that the Archdiocese has not been given veto power over Voris’ content.  Some take this lack of “meeting protocols” as somehow meaning he is “banned” from speaking on Church property.  That’s not the case, but those opposed to Voris’ style can use this now convenient excuse as a reason to refuse him the ability to speak at Church facilities in many locales.  And now the World Youth Day folks have issued an ‘unprecedented’ statement on a private Catholic traveling to Madrid in conjunction with WYD, apparently trying to make sure Catholics know that he is not a formal representative of WYD.  Which is odd, because Voris never claimed to be.

In addition to his statement about the devil being about, Fr. Z has also noted that a ‘progressive’ counterpunch to the gains more traditional or orthodox Catholics have made of late is in the offing.  Are all these occurrences related to that? 

I personally value Voris’ work greatly.  I think we need strong, uncompromising voices in the Church.  I think we need voices that speak for orthodoxy and hold the leadership to account – they are, after all, entrusted with the promulgation of that orthodoxy throughout the Church. Some may not like his ‘tone.’  But tone does not justify the ‘unprecedented’ efforts that are underway to extinguish this voice as one crying in the wildnerness. 

I’m not saying “can’t we all just get along.”  I’ve certainly been critical of plenty of folks in the Church in the past.  But, before going off, maybe check your motivations.  It’s not always easy to keep one’s personal preferences separated from what one feels is ‘good for the Church.’

Contraception is the center point for most dissent and error in the Church July 26, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, Interior Life, Papa, religious, sadness, Saints, scandals, sickness, Society.
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That is the p0int made by Michael Voris in the videos below.  I have thought this myself for some time – that the widespread ‘dissent’ from the Church’s Doctrine on contraception is the centrality around which so much of the theological and liturgical chaos in the Church turns.  It is very rare for a person to reject just one Doctrine of the Faith.  Typically, there is a  key issue that causes the rejection, and then others flow from that.  The 2nd video is long, but it is very worth watching.  From the moment Humanae Vitae was released, explicitly confirming the constant belief of the Church regarding contraception, ‘dissent’ was widespread and instantaneous. 

I have only a couple of times heard a priest address contraception in a sermon.  (UPDATE: I was thinking about that more – I have heard one priest mention the topic once in a sermon (he was not local), but there are three priests who have discussed it at length.  But out of dozens of priests I’ve heard give sermons, those are the only 3 that have ever addressed the topic with much regularity and seriousness.)  Because the topic has gone unaddressed so long, it is that much harder to address, now.  A priest presenting the Church’s constant belief on this subject is sure to face a hostile reaction.  Attendance and donations may fall.  But, the consequences of NOT presenting this facet of Church Doctrine will grow even more grim with time – a greatly reduced number of new Catholics, marriages dissolving, reduced vocations, plunging levels of belief and adherence to other Doctrines, cultural decline, etc.  Delaying treatment of a serious illness just makes the treatment, when finally applied, that much more difficult.

I pray the Church’s Doctrine on sex, love, marriage, and contraception will be much more boldly and forthrightly proclaimed from the pulpit, now and into the future.

It is in Jesus that we find everything we need July 26, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Interior Life, Saints.
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Divine Intimacy, Chapter 231:

It is in Jesus and in His Redemption that we find everything we need for the nourishment and life of our souls; it is in Him that we shall find the Grace, love, faith, and the encouragement to virtue we need………But how does it happen that we are always falling?  Why are we always so miserable? [I think the author means, generally, as humans, not necessarily particularly] [The reason is that]…..we are not yet wholly dead with Christ, because the ‘old man’ in us has not yet been crucified to the point of our no longer being slaves on sin.  In a word, if we wish to live fully the life that Christ acquired for us by His death, we must first die with Him. As this does not mean material death of the body but spiritual death to our faults and passions, this death must be continually renewed. “Quotidie morior,” I die daily (1 Cor 15:31).  This weakness of our spiritual life is caused by the insufficiency of death to self. 

[Then, to quote St. Teresa of Jesus (Interior Castle, II, 1):

Ah! My Lord, your help is absolutely necessary for me; without You I can do nothing! In Your mercy, O God, do not allow my soul to be deceived and to give up the work it has begun. Give me light to know that my whole welfare depends on perseverance [in the Faith]

Make me understand that my faith in you  must rise above my misery, and that I must never be alarmed if I feel weak and fearful. I must make allowance for the flesh, remembering what You said, O Jesus, in Your prayer in the garden: “The flesh is weak…’ If you said that Your Divine and sinless flesh was weak, how can I expect mine to be so strong that it does not feel afraid? O Lord, I do not wish to be preoccupied with my fears nor to be discouraged at my weakness. On the contrary, I wish to trust in Your mercy, and to have no confidence whatever in my own strength, convinced that my weakness comes from depending on myself.

That’s me – always trying to do on my own, when I should depend on Grace to sustain me, and allow me to overcome my faults.  But I am weak, and prideful, and constantly assert my will over God’s, my capabilities over the soft flowing of Grace into my soul.  It is a difficult thing.  I am glad to have free will, so that I can learn to give it up as a mortification to God.  But it is hard, and this culture that glorifies self-assertiveness, self-seeking, and pleasure does not make it any easier. 

Lord, send me your sustaining Grace, so I may die to self and only live for You, and through You, for others.  I pray that I may grow weak, so that You will grow strong within me.